Law always walked talk
Corner never was short on confidence
FOXBORO — There was one moment during Rodney Harrison’s Patriots Hall induction speech Monday night that had Bill Belichick, who was standing off to the side of the podium, in stitches.
The Hoodie was laughing out loud when Harrison picked on Ty Law, who was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio last night. Harrison, who singled out many of the people who were impactful in his life during the speech, told a few comical stories about the cornerback.
“The thing about Ty Law, Ty does his own thing. Ty just does what he wants to do,” Harrison began. “He’d fall asleep in meetings, and I’d have to wake him up.”
Harrison was just getting warmed up. He went on to explain that Belichick would put all of these exotic schemes and defenses together, and when the head coach questioned Law about those schemes, the cornerback pushed back.
“‘Bill, stop messing with me. Leave me be,’” Harrison said, in his best Law voice. “‘You know who I am? I’m Ty F’ing Law! I’m Ty Law! Just tell me what man I gotta defend.’ ”
Along with Belichick, the crowd assembled at Patriot Place erupted. Harrison, after poking a little fun at his former teammate, then praised Law and congratulated him for earning the coveted gold jacket and joining the NFL’s elite fraternity.
Cutting through the jokes, getting past Harrison’s humor, he actually hit on one of the most important elements driving the latest Hall entrant from the Patriots toward success.
Law was so confident, even cocky, in his abilities. He believed he could shut down anybody. He had an attitude, and largely backed it up.
Asked about Harrison’s ribbing during a conference call before last night’s ceremony, Law attempted to set the record straight.
“First of all, I think that’s a little exaggerated because Rodney’s just a silly guy. Sometimes you try to talk a little trash to get yourself going, or just to break the ice,” Law said, “but you know it was a part of who I am — believing in yourself. That’s always been my message. If everybody else — coaches can believe in you, your teammates can believe in you — but until you believe it yourself, that isn’t going to do anything for you or anybody else.”
Law always wanted to cover the best receiver on the other team, and asked for the assignment. Most of the time, he delivered. In the biggest games he was especially deadly. He owned Peyton Manning. His signature play is his pick-six against Kurt Warner in Super Bowl XXXVI against the Rams.
“I had to believe in myself, so I tried, and I know how I prepared, so that also helped with the confidence to go in and compete because I knew I worked hard. I felt like I was getting the edge all the time through preparation, and I worked just as hard off the field as I did on the field in preparing to compete. You know, being out there on that corner sometimes gets lonely, even though you have your teammates out there. But sometimes you’re tasked with the responsibility of taking this guy out and you have to win a one-onone battle, and the one-onone battle happened a lot because of the way our scheme was. So, I had to take a certain edge and a confidence about it. I couldn’t always depend on a safety or a linebacker or the pass rush for help. It was me and that other guy, so I had to feel that, “Hey, I’m better than you,” at all times with whoever I’m lined up against.”
Law, a 1995 first-round pick by the Patriots, finished with 53 career interceptions for 828 yards. He was voted to five Pro Bowls. He walked the walk, and backed it up.
“Even though you win some, I lost plenty. But, I went in there with the intent of winning,” he said. “Every time I lined up across from somebody, I intended on winning the one-on-one battle because of the work I put in. I think that’s where it came from. I worked too hard to lose.”